Trooper in the Wastes
by KidSavesTheWorld
Summary: David, an ODST was found by Cortana on the Forward Unto Dawn. but there's an inssue. the ship is heading towards a misterious planet that resembles earth, but looks strange.. Hey guys, story is on hold atm. got the most horrible case of writers block ever
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: hello everyone, this is my first fan fic so forgive me if it's horrible**.

Trooper in the Wastes

Chapter 1: The Awakening

The hissing noise of the opening cryo tube was the first thing David heard after going into the deep sleep of the cryogenic freeze. For him it had only been a few seconds since his squad leader Sergeant Léonard Baker had ordered him to cryo in full combat gear. David was fully aware that he needed to be ready for combat at a moment's notice if the _Dawn_ was to come under attack, even if that risked freezer burn. He hopped out of the tube first surprised by the lack of light and second at the lack of gravity. Turning right he noticed a blue woman hovering over a holotank, it had to be an A.I. he floated over wincing at the pain of his ODST armour chafing on the freezer burned skin of his body.

"Good to see your alive trooper", the A.I. replied

"Ahh Cortana, good to see you again. What happened here?" asked David.

"When we were going through the portal to escape the ark we were severed from the rest of the ship", Cortana explained.

"S-so where are we?"

"I can't say, the majority of the _Dawn's_ sensors where on the front half of the ship, along with the reactors and slip space drives. Meaning that we are floating in space and all we have is a rescue beacon which I'm not sure has a long enough range for the UNSC to pick it up"

"So we are in the middle of nowhere, with no-one to rescue us? Why did you wake me?" David asked waving his arms around.

"You were reaching the limits of what a human can cope with after being in cryo so long"

"Wait how long have I been in there?"

"Roughly 150 years, give or take a few minutes"

David was shell shocked. Being in cryo that long meant that everyone he knew, everyone he cared about was long since dead. His life had no purpose anymore. He no doubt knew the war was over and that humanity had won, but that seemed so insignificant now. All his military life had been spent fighting covies. It was all he knew how to do. But out the corner of his eye he saw a flashing light. He turned to see another cryo tubed being used. Maybe someone from his squad.

"Cortana, why wasn't I woken before this? Before the _Dawn_ went through the portal like everyone else?" David asked

"Due to the panic of crew not everyone was woken and able to run to the front of the ship in time. You and the chief are all that's left", Cortana replied

David quickly looked to the occupied cryo tube and back to Cortana. "Whoa whoa whoa, you mean the chief is in there?" the trooper asked, astonished as he pointed at the tube

"Yes, the one an on- hold on the ships few sensors are picking up something. Oh no, we are on a collision course with a nearby planet, we enter the atmosphere in a little over two hours. I better wake the chief" Cortana exclaimed

David was worried now as he was drifting in half a frigate towards a planet he knew nothing about, what if he couldn't survive down there. There might not be a breathable atmosphere, or hostile natives, or some threat he couldn't think of right now. Just then he heard a beeping noise indicating a lack of air in his suit. David searched the cryo bay for emergency oxygen and found it as master chief's pod started to open. David plugged in his suit to the oxygen canister and was soon greeted with the tone signifying his suit being full of breathable air again. He soon floated over to Cortana's holotank and waited for the chief to come out. Through the rapidly escaping mist of the cryo tube shone the lights on Master Chief's helmet and he quickly stepped out.

"What's wrong cort- who's he? I thought we were alone", the Chief said in a surprised tone.

"Private First Class David Parks, sir", the trooper said as he saluted the Chief the best he could in zero gee.

"At ease, zero gee is hard enough as is", the Chief said. "Cortana, where did he come from?"

"He was in a cryo tubed that hadn't been evacuated before the portal collapse. He's just as stranded as us. Which brings me to why I woke you up; it seems we are on a collision course with a planet. You're not going to believe this but it appears to be earth, or rather what's left of it" Cortana explained

"What? What do you mean?" the trooper yelled

"Well it appears to be earth, the continents match, however there is a high radiation level that goes around the entire planet." Cortana answered as she showed a render of the planet.

Master Chief was shocked at the discoloured planet before him "the covenant used nukes?"

"No I don't think the covenant would use nuclear weapons as their plasma beams glassed planets more efficiently, also there seems to be life forms on the planet as well" as Cortana informed the soldiers the Dawn moved closer to the remnants of earth entering the gravitational pull.

"Accelerating, you boys better think of a way off this thing, fast," Cortana warned

"The drop pod bay, it's on the bottom deck at the back, it might still be intact," the trooper suggested

"Good idea", the chief responded

The Spartan and the ODST rushed as best they could to the drop bay, avoiding many broken support beams on the way. Cortana showed up on David's HUD and said "ok boys I've scanned the ship, it looks like your best bet is the drop bay, there are two pods ready to go, you're making a blind jump"

"Fucking great, are there any other pods? We need to put spare equipment in them" the PFC asked

"Negative there aren't but the pods will land with each other so at least you won't get separated" Cortana said

"No the trooper's right, we need back up gear. I'll have to jump", said the chief

"Chief, that's crazy. Lucky for us, I like crazy", Cortana said with a grin on her avatar.

The trooper stopped in his tracks. Jump? The Master Chief is crazy, no not crazy, he's fucking insane. Chief turned around wondering why the trooper had stopped, David quickly started moving again.

They made it to the SOEIV bay where Master Chief instantly started packing a pod with weapons and ammo, David didn't even know what he was throwing in, but he didn't care. David walked over to his locker and opened it revealing his M7S sub machine gun with 2x reflex sight, suppressor and foldable stock and his M6S Suppressed Magnum. He holstered the pistol and carried the SMG over to his pod, placing it in the designated slot. He went back to his locker grabbing several survival kits, Military food packs and a spare COM system in the form of a Marine helmet, he didn't want to lose contact with the chief or Cortana. He turned around and put the gear inside his pod before walking up to the chief, who was speaking to Cortana.

"Hey chief" he said

"Yeah", the chief responded in his deep monotonous voice

"Have a safe drop", the trooper sad

"Thanks, you too"

"Ok boys I've got an idea", Cortana chimed in. both the trooper and the Spartan looked to the holotank in the bay where her avatar was. "I'm going to copy myself and go into each of your suits, that way I won't be lost if the chief is… injured by the jump"

"Sounds like a plan", David said

"I don't like it, but I see where you're coming from, do it", the chief said

"Ok commencing, chief insert the data chip", Cortana ordered. Master Chief did so and watched as the chips centre began to glow blue. The Chief pulled out the chip and inserted into his helmet, shivering a little. "Alright trooper, plug me in"

David pulled a cord out of his armoured rucksack and plugged it into the side of his helmet and the holotank. He had never had an A.I. in his helmet before and discovered why the Chief had shivered as a cool sensation flowed into his brain.

"Don't worry you'll get used to it", Cortana cooed

"Here's hoping", David said as he sat in his pod. The SOIEV rattled and turned sideways. David closed his eyes in an effort to calm his nerves, and flashed back to the first time he jumped.

"How do we go troopers?" the sergeant yelled

"WE GO FEET FIRST, SERGEANT!" The squad yelled in unison, David amongst them

"Your pulse is elevating", interrupted Cortana

"Yeah, it happens when I blind jump from a 150 year old pod", David replied

"We are in vacuum, there's no air or moisture to corrode the pod's systems"

"Still not comforting Cortana"

The familiar tones of the countdown set off in his pod and David gripped the rudder controls, blind jumps tended to fail, and his pod was 150 years old.

The pods launched out of the bay heading through the atmosphere and heating up intensely. David wished he didn't have his helmet on so he could wipe is very sweaty forehead. Despite his suits climate control, the overwhelming heat always made him uncomfortable, that and the fact he's plummeting towards a planet at twice the speed of sound.

"30 seconds to impact, hold on, the Chief's trajectory is off" Cortana said.

"Wait what? How can his trajectory be off, this is a blind jump" David questioned

"I mean in comparison to the SOIEVs trajectory"

"Oh, well how far off"

"2.7456354654 degrees"

"Well that doesn't sound like much"

"It equates to a 70 mile distance in landing zones"

David was about to yell 'fuck' when the chute pulled forcing all the wind out of his lungs. He failed to hear the warning due to his conversation with Cortana. "Oh fuck that hurts, you can never get used to that"

"Closed proximity, close proximity, close proximity" the pods alarms yelled and continued to yell.

"Fuck fuck fuck! Cortana take over the controls and prevent me from hitting anything"

"You got it private"

"Hey, call me David"

"What about Dave?"

"Nah, never liked nicknames"

The pods thrusters engaged 50 metres above the ground, as per regulations. The pod hit the ground with a crunch, drowning out David's groan and sending everything within a 10-foot radius away at great velocity. David saw the pods class crack and knew that the heavily reinforced Plexie Glass doesn't crack unless there is major damage.

"Diagnostics indicate heavy damage to the pod, recommend explosive door ejection" Cortana's voice echoed through the Trooper's helmet.

"Yeah kinda' figured. Well are you ready?" David asked himself

"Yes, I'm an A.I., we are always ready" Cortana responded

"Rhetorical question"

"Oh"

David sighed, "Well, here goes nothing". David leaned forward pushing the emergency door ejection buttons and sat back waiting for the door to fly off.

Man these things take forever. David thought as the door flew off the pod with a particularly loud explosion. He stepped out and saw a caravan of some sort with tables set up and people sitting at them, staring at him with shock written all over their faces.

**Author's Note: gah finally done. Just a few things you should know, David is an OC, and he seems familiar with Cortana however he had never met her until just before the drop. Cortana is a fair bit crazy as will be proved in the following chapters as A.I.'s tend to go rampant after 7or 8 years, Cortana has been around for 150 years, maybe she's got epic rampancy? I don't know yet. Also I'll hope for reviews rather than tell you to review me as this is my first fan fic and most people have established themselves as writers before reviews start coming in. one last thing, I'll be accepting any and all forms of criticism as I would like improve my writing coming into the senior years of high school. The HSC is a bitch and I'd like to pass. That is all and I'll see the few of you who could be bothered in the next chapter of: Trooper in the Wastes…**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hello everyone. Thanks for the nice reviews everyone :D im sorry this took so long but i had to get it right.**

Trooper in the wastes:

Chapter 2

David was standing there in just as much shock as the people in front of him. Who could blame them? A man in a metal cacoon falls from the sky and lands in front of them. A few of them started whispering to each other so David decided what the hell. I may as well try.

"Uh hello, I come in peace" David said making the peace symbol with his left hand holding his SMG in his right.

"You're not an alien are ya'" one the men sitting at a table asked

"No, I was born on earth"

"Earth?" another man asked

"Yeah, wait you don't know what planet this is?" David asked

"Uh I heard about that thing you said just now" a third man asked

"Uh ok then, who here is in charge?" David asked

"We don't actually have a person in charge, stops us from going mad with power" a woman dressed in rags with a hood answered. She had an odd contraption on her hand that David didn't recognise.

"Ok um is there someone I can talk to about what happened here?" David asked

"If anyone should know it be you, after all you're the one who came down in that there cacoon" the first man said pointing towards the pod

"Oh no not that, what happened here. Why is this place a wasteland? I don't think it was covenant coz there are people here alive"

"I think I could help you answer that", the girl with the odd contraption said

"Ok cool. What happened?" David asked

"Hey I said I could help. Not that I could tell you. Anyway first things first, what's your name?"

"Are you sure you can trust them?" Cortana asked after turning off David's helmet speakers.

"Well the girl seems trustworthy, but your right, I'll stay frosty" David replied

"David, my name id David" he said turning on his helmet speakers

"Nice name, I'm Veronica. Pleasure to make your acquaintance" said the hooded girl holding out her hand

Shaking her hand, David said "Ok veronica, how am I supposed to find out what happened here"

"Come with me"

"uh, mind telling me where we're going"

"all in good time, David"

"ok Hold on, I need to grab some things" David said as he turned to his pod. He pulled out the food packs, survival kits and the spare marine helmet and put them in his armoured rucksack.

"Cortana, where are we?" David asked

"close to the remnants of Las Vegas, in the Mojave desert" Cortana replied

"Also could you put a locking system and a NAV beacon on the other pod? And try and establish a connection to the Chief and the other you."

"You sound just like the Chief, Frosty"

"You used my call sign"

"well you are technically in the field"

"good point"

David turned around to Veronica and they headed off towards an off ramp for the highway.

"You're not from around here but I'm going to ask anyway. Do you know the Brotherhood of Steel?" Veronica asked

"Brotherhood of Steel?" David asked

"Well that answers my question. And another thing, there were two of those metal things that you came in. what was in there?"

"I'm not entirely sure"

"Well that seems a little odd"

"Yeah you could say that, there's another one of me. Well kind of me, more like a freak version."

"Freak version?"

"Yeah, he's been altered to make him stronger, faster and all-round better"

"You mean like super mutants"

"Not familiar with them"

"Oh you will be soon enough"

The two walked down the highway towards the south. Along the way Veronica told David about the Brotherhood and Cesar's legion. Then she told him about the NCR, when she mentioned Rangers the trooper all but threw his SMG away in a large flailing motion of his arms.

"What? You seem familiar with the Rangers" Veronica questioned

"I just, I never thought the Army would be in power" David replied with anger to which Veronica was startled.

"I'm sorry, Army? I don't follow"

"Uh it's a military thing"

"Oh military, like during the war?" Veronica replied

"YES! The war, tell me what you know." David nearly screamed

"Not much. I'll tell you when we get to the bunker"

They continued as the sky became dark. Soon they decided to set up camp within a cave they stumbled across. David entered very cautiously with his SMG drawn and training instantly on any form of movement his helmet systems could pick up. Luckily the cave was clear so they set up a fire and began to eat their respective foods. David opted for his military food pack rather than Veronica's iguana on a stick. Soon afterwards the girl fell asleep, leaving David to ponder what to do the next day.

David awoke to a scream and a monstrous roar, instantly bringing him to combat readiness. Raising his SMG he exited the cave at a pace so fast, one could confuse him for a bullet. He turned in the direction of yet another roar to see a beast with its grip on Veronica. The beast had claws the size of his leg and horns protruding from its head. It was hunched with spikes protruding from its back. It was the most menacing thing David had seen since he helped take down a Scarab. But David didn't hesitate at the sight of this beast; he had taken on Hunter pairs on his own before. He instantly opened fire on the beast's head, but the bullets seemed to ricochet off, doing nothing to stop its rampage. He looked for weaknesses but came up short. So he just fired his entire magazine into the monster's chest. Blood started to seep out of wounds in its abdomen, David reloaded and continued his fire upon the creature, which had dropped Veronica and prepared to charge at David. He rolled at just the right moment avoiding the charge and filled its back with lead. However, the creature didn't seem to notice. It turned and charged again, David rolled again priming a grenade. He held the grenade, cooking it until he threw it at the perfect moment straight at the creature's face. The grenade exploded at point blank range, lifting dust and obscuring the creature. Triumphant with his effort, David threw his fists in the air with a victorious roar, the action throwing his SMG away. But he heard the creature stir, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. He turned on his Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance (VISR) and halted. His VISR showed a red silhouette of the creature standing, walking slowly towards him in a blind rage. David stood still 'what was this? I've never seen anything take a frag to the face and survive', David thought. He saw his SMG laying behind the creature. David mentally cursed his stupidity and drew his sidearm. Aiming down the sights he fired three shots in quick succession, hitting the creature in the eye, this seemed to only give away his position as the monster charge once more.

"Fuck fuck FUCK FUCK FUCK!" David yelled as he rolled

David turned looking towards the beast, seeing it ready for another charge. It started sprinting at him, this time it was low to the ground and had its enormous arms extended at its sides. There was no rolling out of the way this time. David crouched, readying himself to jump. The creature continued its charge with a roar. Just as David was about to jump he saw movement to his right, in his peripheral. David jumped, timing it to perfection, landing behind the creature. he heard a mechanical pounding followed by a sound similar to water hitting concrete. He turned to see the creature laying down, facing away from him and Veronica standing over it covered in blood.

"Holy shit, what did you do?" David asked astonished

"I used this" Veronica said holding up her hand with the contraption

"I need one of those"

"yeah, they are pretty awesome"

"hell yeah" David said before turning off his helmet speakers. "Cortana, does my suit have any scanning equipment?"

"no, but if you can get a hold of one, you could take it apart and let me use your helmet camera"

"and what? Look at it?" David asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"yes. Then I could make up some improvements and guide you in creating the improved version"

"sounds like a plan. Any luck with contacting the Chief"

"negative, your suit's COM is fine though. And if the impact left the Chief unconscious my other self would have responded. I believe the interference may be caused by the amount of radiation in the area"

"damn"

"ok we need to get moving, one Deathclaw means many" Veronica stated

"that's definitely a good name for them" David said, turning on his helmet speakers.

With that, they continued south, down the highway. Walking along, they encountered many 'creatures of the wastes' as Veronica had called them. They soon found a gate heading through a valley. Veronica soon warned of radscorpions. David pulled out his pistol and told her he was ready. They trekked through the valley, David shooting anything he saw moving. The valley spread out into a clearing of sorts with three bunkers in it.

"ok this is it. Follow me" Veronica commanded to which David complied.

They headed towards a bunker on the left and opened the mechanical door. David was surprised at the lack of room inside the bunker. He wasn't expecting it to be a mansion, but he didn't expect it to be so claustrophobic. Veronica walked up to another door and opened it, it was of the same style as the first. Then she walked to yet another door, this one was arched. She walked to an intercom next to the door and buzzed it three times.

"what's the password", a voice from the intercom asked

"it's me. Let me in" Veronica replied

"Veronica we have a password for a reason"

"just let me in!" Veronica screamed.

"fine, fine. I can see the outsider on the camera. Make sure to keep an eye on that one, he's well-armed and looks trained."

"I think that'll be fine. Just let me in now"

"ok then"

The door's centre turned and the entire door slid into the ground. David instinctively brought his weapon up. But he saw no threat and when he looked to Veronica, he lowered it. Intimidated by the glare she gave him. They walked in to the metal corridors and were greeted by many people wearing some very chucky plate armour. It reminded David of the Spartans, and so he treated the men in plated power armour as Spartans. Only acknowledging them when they greeted him. He was a little unnerved by everyone calling him outsider but he figured he could get used to it. They walked through a large door that resembled the front one with the intercom. Once through, they rounded a corner to see a raised platform with a semicircle of what seemed to be controls of some sort. It almost looked like the same setup the forerunners had on the ark. Of course not as advanced.

"ahh greetings outsider, I trust Veronica treated you well?"


End file.
